OLYMPIA, Wash. — If elected governor in November, Bob Ferguson said reducing crime would be his top priority.
"Individuals have a right to feel safe in their communities,” said Ferguson. “That is a message I’ve heard, not surprisingly, over and over and over again.”
Ferguson, a husband and father of 16-year-old twins, has been Washington’s attorney general since 2012.
Gov. Jay Inslee announced last year he will not seek a fourth term in 2024.
Before being elected to statewide office, Ferguson, a Democrat, was a member of the King County Council.
Ferguson said it’s “unacceptable” that Washington has the lowest rate of law enforcement officers per capita in the country.
As governor, Ferguson said he would propose boosting funding to hire more Washington State Patrol troopers and would back proposals to set aside $100 million in grants for city and county agencies to increase staffing.
Ferguson said he would support measures to hire cold case detectives, establish a hate crime unit, and expand child sex predator sting operations.
He said the more than $1 billion in settlements the state received from opioid manufacturers should go to support those seeking treatment.
"Nothing is more maddening for parents I've spoken to when they say, 'Bob, I've got a child who is suffering from addiction, and it took years before they were ready to get treatment, and once they were, they told me it'd be eight weeks before I get in the door.' As a parent, I can't imagine having that experience,” said Ferguson.
Ferguson is proud of his work as attorney general backing the passage of gun-related laws, including a ban on weapons defined as assault weapons, and work his office did to reduce a backlog of unprocessed DNA rape test kits.